Biology and Life Sciences Forum (Mar 2022)
To What Extent Are Protected Areas Freer of Alien Plants Than Managed Areas within Biodiversity Coldspots? A Case Study of the Mordovia State Nature Reserve, European Russia
Abstract
As it is known, protected areas networks should (once again) protect the native ecosystems from the negative influence of alien species introduction. In this study, we select a protected area (Mordovia State Nature Reserve, IUCN category: I) in European Russia (Republic of Mordovia). Moreover, alien floras have never been compared between the Mordovian regional districts (managed areas) and protected areas. We aimed to compare the alien species proportion between the flora of the Mordovia State Nature Reserve and 23 floras of the regional districts. For this purpose, we used actual floristic checklists of both Mordovia State Nature Reserve (at present, more than 800 species) and the whole Mordovia (at present, more than 1470 species), as well as the set of the published additions to the flora of the region and Protected Area. The temporal comparison was performed between data of 2010 and 2022 years. We hypothesized that, contrary to the widely known fact on the intactness of Protected Areas, the Mordovia State Nature Reserve is characterized by a high proportion of alien plant species. The obtained results demonstrated that in the Mordovia State Nature Reserve, the alien species proportion before starting intense botanical studies was lower (10.7%) than in floras of certain managed areas (17.7% in the Kochkurovo district, 18.8% in the Insar district, or 22.0% in the Ardatov district). At the same time, additional studies resulted in a considerable increase in the alien species proportion in the flora of the protected area (19.0%) in comparison with data of the 2010 year. This indicates both the initial underestimation of the protected area’s flora and the importance of additional purposeful investigations in obtaining the complete data on the flora composition. The obtained results in comparison with updated data for the Mordovian districts’ floras are discussed in light of the current knowledge on the flora of the Mordovia State Nature Reserve and the Republic of Mordovia as a whole.
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